Bullish elephants: GOP ready to retake Albany

With the national political environment favoring Republicans this year, the New York GOP is bullish about winning its first statewide election in two decades.

Now they just have to decide whether Long Island Rep. Lee Zeldin, former White House aide Andrew Giuliani, former Westchester County Executive Rob

Astorino or businessman Harry Wilson should be the party’s pick to — in all likelihood — face Gov. Hochul in November.

“It’s a tough race to handicap and, right now, it looks like a free-for-all, it’s wide open and a lot of positioning in terms of where they’re gonna be,” Lee Miringoff, director of the Marist Poll, told The Post. “But

Republicans recognize they’re the smaller party in New York and this could be a Republican year nationally. The [GOP] debate [next Monday] becomes very important for them.”

With fewer than three weeks to go before the June 28 primary, the race is up in the air, although a Post analysis of fundraising and polling indicates two candidates have separated themselves from the rest.

Zeldin and Giuliani have consistently polled higher than their opponents, with most surveys showing the congressman either with a sizable lead or trailing Giuliani by single digits.

“You can’t count out the Giuliani name . . . and the issue is crime. So you have to make this a race between Giuliani and Zeldin,” political consultant Hank Sheinkopf told The Post.

However, the most prominent GOPer, Donald Trump, has yet to endorse despite pushes by each candidate — especially Zeldin and Giuliani, who has been the most outspoken about his support for Trump.